Moalboal, Philippines. (Moalboal to Cebu by bus)

From Oslob to get to Moalboal we had to circumnavigate the island by the means of 2 buses. One a hours journey to Bato and then a quick change to another bus in the direction of Cebu. Another 2.5 hours of being bucked around in our seats at breakneck speeds and sudden braking we arrived at Moalboal. It was another ramshackle kind of place with a chaotic feel about it but it had potential. Luckily there was an ATM next to the bus stop which was just a tin sheet shelter on the side of the road so we managed to get money out which was lucky as we were down to our last few quid. We haggled with a tricycle driver who came down from 200 pesos to 60 for a ride to our cottage which we had booked. When we got there, no one was about and it was all a bit deserted. We hanged about looking lost for a while until someone passing in the street saw us looking pensive and knew some sort of acquaintance that knew the owner. A few phone calls later they told us our place was 'down the road in another building'. Sounding like we were being duped again we argued our case but with them being fully booked we had no option but to follow them down the road to our cottage. On the outside it looked fabulous but when we got inside there was a flurry of activity going on and the place looked like someone was still living there. Our suspicions were confirmed when a lady with 3 teeth in her head informed us that it was indeed her daughters or niece's house and occasionally she rented it out for cash. This was cold comfort as we paid top dollar for what Booking.com described as something more enticing. The price presented was less than we expected to pay so decided to take the place. In the deal we received 20 free mosquitoes that were very hungry and were replaced free of charge every morning and evening.

Mosquito Mansion in all its glory. 

 Also in the deal was no toilet seat, although we found one dumped out back so cleaned it up and jammed it on the throne to save our delicate cheeks from porcelain dead cheek syndrome. We are too old to squat. The wifi was also missing. We complained as usual which is one thing we are good at and on the last day of our stay was presented with a router. Proud as punch the owner/caretaker/toothless woman was (we had no idea who she was) plugged it in. I soon cut her down to size when I explained that it needed a telephone line to make it work but after trying to explain for 5 minutes the concept of wifi she would not accept that it needed a telephone line so we went without internet our whole stay which was becoming the norm now. But we did have a nice shiney new router flashing away at us for an evening which made a nice budget disco atmosphere. There was also a room that she told us it was out of bounds, so as soon as she left us we went straight in the room and removed goodies that would make our stay more comfy. One item was an electronic mosquito killer, shaped like a tennis racket and it was Kathy's favourite toy, giving off a very satisfying electrical bzzzzzz when a target was destroyed.
  We also secured a rental bike from another woman who I got no idea where she was from but showed up and demanded to keep our passports which we declined because she looked too trampy to trust so fobbed her off with a photo copy and told her we were having a discount which she put up no protest about. Job done.
  When we looked out the back window all we saw was like a shanty town with kids, dogs, roosters all running about with huts that looked like a strong gust of wind would demolish.  Welcome to the Philippines!
  Undeterred we hit the road and went to a supermarket to buy supplies as we had a kitchen back at the mosquito mansion. The supermarket was a joke with queues so long we spent longer trying to pay than actually shopping.

Not he best name for an alcoholic drink for a quiet night in.

  Next day was so hot, it had us wilting by 9am so we chilled out in front of the fan but the heat got us agitated so we hit Panagsama beach for a spot of snorkeling which is what we came to do. We hired some poor quality snorkels and some reef shoes and went out to the reef wall which is only 30 metres out from the beach. Here we saw a fantastic phenomenon of a shoal of sardines, hundreds of thousands in numbers, all hanging about off the reef wall only 5 metres down doing fantastic shapes around us as they spooked themselves and flocked together for protection. It was just like something you would see on one of those wildlife programs on the Discovery channel. We went out for a second session and were lucky enough to have a giant turtle for company for 10 minutes who did not mind at all us observing him having his lunch. In the afternoon we went down White Beach which had nice sand but this was coupled with more rubbish about. Kathy had a beer while I went out to snorkel but the sea had become cloudy so was disappointing. We tried to watch sunset but cloud cover on an adjacent island blocked the view. We were entertained though by some Koreans trying desperately to launch their kite but ended up with it getting stuck in a tree and Kathy and myself being amused with them trying to recover the kite from the tree which was unsuccessful.
  Back at mosquito mansions we battled with the fresh influx and revelled in the only English channel on the T.V. which happened to be brain numbing American re-runs. Kathy was by now developing a very awesome backhand smash which was annihilating the mosquito population but I was still getting bitten on a regular interval.

White beach. I am sure Apartheid would have something to say about this. 

  Next day we had a choice. We could go to Kawasan falls or go and explore more of the reef at Panangsama beach. One was 17km away and one was 4km away. An easy choice, we ended up at Panangsama and hired some better quality snorkels and reef shoes and went to a new spot on the south beach which turned out to be awesome. Apart from the usual sardine shoals we saw loads of amazing coral and a ridiculous amount of fish including stone fish and parrot fish and loads of fish I have no idea what they are called. We went for a second snorkel after lunch but the sea was a bit cloudier so was not so good. A sun downer followed with beer overlooking the beach. Back at mosquito mansion we had the builders in! The owners deciding that we needed a place to store our scooter overnight, had took it upon themselves to organise a group of builders to tear down our fence that was our only protection from the shanty town dossers and start building a bike park in front of our veranda. Not too chuffed at this, Kath sent me to remonstrate with the 3 toothed woman of unknown authority or ownership across the road (thanks Kath!) to declare my dis-satisfaction of the arrangement. She tried to palm me off with some flannel but with me having a far superior tooth count I out ranked her and demanded the work stopped immediately and to my surprise it did. Bald man 1, 3 Toothed women 0...... 3 points in the bag!

The bus stop at Moalboal. Hands on hips is mandatory protocol to all passengers.

After the rush of adrenaline that was Moalboal we caught a bus from an excuse of a bus stop to Cebu for an overnight stop at a very nice place near the airport called Little Norway which surprisingly was run by a very jolly Norweigen and he had  the best place that we had stayed at in the Philippines so far which was ironic for our last night.  We did not do anything in Cebu as it can be a little edgy for foreigners and it's sights unspectacular so having wifi available again we caught up on all our uploading. Next day was a 5am start for a flight to Manila, where we would make a stopover in Taiwan. We hung out there for half a day then connected for a flight to San Francisco. A total of 28 hours travelling in 24hrs. Work that out!